Coby Karl grew up around basketball, including the Milwaukee Bucks. (Getty)

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November 29, 2007

MILWAUKEE -- Sometimes the best stories from the National Basketball Association get lost beneath the bright lights, the glitz and the glamour.

Here is one that needs to be told.

Milwaukee Bucks fans had a lot for which to be thankful during Thanksgiving week of 2007. Their team stayed undefeated at home with an electric 110-103 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 21. Michael Redd outdueled Kobe Bryant in a duel of USA Basketball gold medalists. The franchise tipped off its 40th anniversary celebration. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar returned home to a standing ovation to have his retired No. 33 jersey banner rededicated.

Amid all of the excitement, someone who spent the evening away from the spotlight made his homecoming, too, without any fanfare or thunderous applause.

Coby Karl has grown accustomed to life on the low road, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better hometown-boy-makes-good story in all of professional sports than the one he has lived.

Karl, the son of former Bucks and current Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl, was in uniform on the Los Angeles Lakers' bench that evening. That fact only began to testify of what the 24-year-old Homestead High School graduate has achieved and the odds he has overcome to do it.

Coby did not earn himself a spot on the Lakers' roster in time to make the team's media guide; his presence on the team was only recognized upon a xeroxed biographical page that was lying on a table in the media room.

This seemed only appropriate, though, because throughout his basketball career, Coby Karl has always seemed to sink to rock bottom before making his way toward the top. And he has stared serious adversity in the face and defeated it.

Being the son of one of the game's premier coaches and a former professional player has brought skepticism with it at every level.

"I think for the most part, people felt like I was given opportunities that I didn't deserve," Coby said. "I just had to prove those people wrong. It's just something where you've got to do it. I've been dealing with it my whole life.

"Fortunately I've made it here. I know I'm probably going to have my naysayers here, too, but I just have to keep working hard and proving them wrong."

Karl faced a major transition when he moved to Milwaukee with his father in 1998.

"It was my freshman year in high school," he said. "It was unfortunate for me because I'd been in Seattle for seven years and had settled in. I didn't know anything about Milwaukee.

"But I came here and had some pretty good times. Going through all the memories and playoff series the Bucks had during those years, you'd never imagine coming back to the NBA and actually playing in it. It's been a long journey for me, and it's been a lot of fun."

The coach's son spent at lot of time at the Cousins Center and the Bradley Center, and he did much more than just hang out, horse around and shag rebounds for the likes of Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell. He lived and learned the NBA -- especially its behind-the-scenes experiences.

"I think being around the NBA game, and seeing guys like Michael Redd and Jason Hart, who didn't play much at all in their rookie year, really helped me," Karl said. "People said Michael Redd probably wouldn't make the team. I saw all the work he put in and what he accomplished. That just motivated me.

"My dad has definitely been the largest influence, in terms of giving me information and that I needed to work hard every day, not necessarily just in the games. It's a 24-hour thing, if you really want to get to this level. It's a job. Those are the things I picked up just being around teams and my dad."

The lessons Coby learned served him well. He went from being a reserve to a starter for Mequon's Homestead High School. Following his senior season of 2001-02, he was selected to the Community Newspapers Inc. All-Suburban Team as one of the premier players in suburban Milwaukee. He averaged 17.5 points a game, sank a team-high 56 3-pointers, made 78 percent of his free throws, and led his team in blocked shots, charges taken and steals.

His coach, the late John Chekouras, said this at the time: "The thing is, everyone sees Coby and they say he has to get bigger, get stronger. The bottom line is that he averaged 17.5 points a game, with everyone coming after him, knowing that we had no one else averaging close to double figures, and he still performed."

Coby never stopped performing. And he kept growing, too. He was listed at 6 feet-1 inch as a high school senior, but has since shot up to 6-5 and put on considerable muscle.

Despite the accolades he received as a prep, Karl was not exactly bombarded by college recruiters.

"Everyone has asked me why I didn't go to Marquette or UWM or Wisconsin," he said. "The fact is that I never got a letter from any of those schools. I didn't get a call from one of those schools. That's kind of what's motivated me: having guys looking over me and saying I'm not good enough, I'm not tall enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not quick enough. Those are the things that motivate me."

Coby left Wisconsin and walked onto the team at Boise State University, not far from the home his father owned in Idaho.

"I had to walk on at Boise State, but they gave me an opportunity where I was able to climb that totem pole and get to the top," Karl said. "Obviously it's given me the opportunity that I have now.

"I liked their facilities, the conference and the coaching staff. I don't think we accomplished the things that we wanted to, but we tried to be as good as we could be. In some programs, it's hard getting out of the basement. That's where we were, and we made our way out. Hopefully they can continue making their way to the top."

Just as he had in Mequon, Karl climbed the totem pole in Boise. He started 17 games as a freshman and averaged 9.4 points per game. He was a full-time starter over his final three years, topping out at 17.2 points per outing as a junior. His season-best shooting percentages were .395 from 3-point range as a junior and .835 from the free-throw line as a senior.

His climb did not come without some threatening setbacks.

He fought two bouts with cancer within a little more than a year. He first had his thyroid removed and underwent chemotherapy after his junior season.

Then he underwent 7 1/2 hours of surgery to have cancerous lymph nodes removed, and still has a three-inch scar below his chin.

But he made his way back for his senior season in 2006-07 just 2 1/2 months later. He became a first-team all-Western Athletic Conference selection, averaging 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4 assists, and became a WAC All-Academic Team selection for the third time. He became Boise State's third all-time leading scorer.

His tenacity to pursue his passion and continue to prove himself enabled him to persevere and beat the disease.

"Well, I think it might sound weird, but I think what got me through it was wanting to play basketball, wanting to keep after what people were saying I couldn't do," he said. "I didn't want anything to hold me down.

"When I heard that I had cancer, it was very scary, especially being 21 years old. You just don't think those things can happen to you. Mentally, it brought me a lot of strength to be able to overcome it. And in terms of my family, it brought us closer. I feel like I'm physically and mentally stronger from it."

In spite of the dramatic emergence he made during his years in Boise, Karl was not selected in the NBA Draft. In order to continue his pursuit of a professional career, he had to prove himself during the 2007 NBA Summer Pro League in Las Vegas, Nev.

And he did. He averaged 12.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in five games. He signed with the Lakers as a free agent on July 30, 2007, and made the team's 15-man roster.

He saw brief action in the Lakers' 2007 season opener, then etched his name into the NBA's scoring registry when he sank two free throws during a Nov. 20 stint against the Indiana Pacers.

"That happened in our 10th game," he said. "I got a taste of being out there in my first game and hadn't been on the floor since. I'd just been anticipating my next opportunity. I've seen guys go through a whole year without even touching the floor, so I was just happy to get out there and do what I've been doing in practice every day --keep working hard and have something to show for it.

"I think when you're at the bottom of the totem pole, those are the things that you live for, a couple of points or a couple of assists at the end of a game. That's what you have to build on."

As far as his father is concerned, Coby has been quite the builder. George Karl never anticipated seeing his son beat the many odds he has already conquered.

"He has said that even he never imagined, while watching me in high school, that I would ever be at this level," Coby said. "Your parents are always the ones who see the best in you, so for him to have never seen that, I think that says a lot.

"I just took it one step at a time. I wanted to play college basketball. I wanted to start. I wanted to be the No. 1 guy. I wanted to play in the NBA.

"It's a ladder. I'm at the bottom of the totem pole in the NBA now, and hopefully I can climb that ladder."

He is already well on his way.

Editor's note: Coby Karl was assigned to the D-League on November 28, 2007, but still remains part of the Lakers roster.